The present invention relates to a generally C-shaped or elliptical shape suture clip, an appliance for utilizing the clip and a method therefor.
In minimally invasive surgery, for example, laparoscopic surgery, one of the more difficult, tedious and repetitive procedures involves the tying of knots on suture thread at a distance. Typically, tying of suture knots is done with two legs of the suture thread protruding from a proximal end of a cannula or tube. The inside diameter of a typical cannula ranges from 5 mm to 10 mm. Each throw of the suture knot (usually the knot requires four or five throws) is placed on the thread outside the cannula (outside the body of the patient) and the knot is pushed to its destination through the cannula with a tool commonly called a xe2x80x9cknot pusher.xe2x80x9d Ultimately, the suture knot is tightened on or near the sutured organ, vessel or tissue at the surgical site.
The present invention replaces the need for tying knots on suture thread (and hence the need to utilize knot pushers) during surgical procedures (whether minimally invasive procedures or other types of surgical procedures).
It is an object of the present invention to provide a suture clip for attachment to suture thread, an appliance for utilizing the suture clip, and a method therefor.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a suture clip which holds the suture as securely as tying a knot on the suture.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a generally C-shaped suture clip wherein the C-shape may also be characterized as a V-shape, broken leg V-shape, a heart shape and a pentagonal shape.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an elliptical shaped suture clip.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a closed loop suture clip and a reading device for the sutures.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a C or U or V shaped suture clip which defines inwardly facing hooks establishing a clip mouth which hook-defined clip mouth enables entrapment of suture thread in a central region of the clip.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a C or U or V shaped suture clip wherein the hooks are laterally displaced and, upon closure of the clip plates, the hooks interleave and interlock over opposite clip plates.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a surgical appliance for utilization of the surgical clip.
The suture clip includes a pair of plates joined together at one end to form a vertex having an acute angle. Each plate, at its remote terminal end, defines an inwardly facing hook. The hook end members establish a clip mouth slightly larger than the diameter of the suture thread such that when the thread is passed through the clip mouth, the thread cannot easily escape entrapment from the central region of the clip. The suture clip may be C-shape, V-shape, broken leg V-shape, heart shape or pentagonal shape. In another embodiment, the clip is a closed loop or elliptical in shape. To enhance operability, the hooks on the C, U or V shaped sutures are disposed on tabs which are laterally displaced with respect to each other such that, upon collapse and closure of the clip plates, the tabs interleave each other and interlock over the opposite clip plate. This feature enhances attachment to suture thread. The method for attachment on suture thread includes providing a clip having several specific features, passing the suture thread through the clip mouth and collapsing the clip plates together over the suture. The enhanced method interleaves terminal edge tabs and interlocks a respective tab over an opposing corresponding clip plate. The surgical appliance for clipping together suture thread includes a suture clip having certain characteristics, a pair of opposing appliance jaws and an elongated mechanical linkage which, upon compression of handle members by a user at a proximal location, the mechanical linkage transfers that force and movement to the compress appliance jaws at a distal end of the appliance thereby closing the suture clip on the suture thread. The enhance threading the suture through the lumen of the clip, an elongated closed loop wire is utilized.